Softwing Most undeservingly overhyped movie of all time??

SoftInloveRox Horrible, fascist and poorly acted

Salubfoto It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

Anoushka Slater While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

John T. Ryan NOT THAT STAR Gary Cooper couldn't handle a film of the Western genre, we can't help but wonder if this entry into Warners' considerable inventory of "oaters" wasn't perhaps an older, unused project that may well have been intended for Errol Flynn. Coop was certainly up to the occasion and did keep us interested.COMPLEMENTIG THE MAIN character in fine, true support are some of the guys who are synonymous with Warner Brothers. Although cast somewhat against type and somewhat hidden behind some extensive facial hair, we find no less than: Raymond Massey, Jerome Cowan and Steve Cochran. Added to this group, we find one of our favourites, Reed Hadley as Wild Bill Hickok, no less.THE STORY IS an amalgam of types as far as mood goes; an element that s common in many WB pictures. Looking back and in retrospect, it must have been successful and served the studio well.PLENTY OF WHIMSY and a total disregard for any historical accuracy are hallmarks that somewhat echo events portrayed in THE OKLAHOMA KID ("Sooners" settling the former Indian territory), DODGE CITY (Railroad coming West), THE SANTA FE TRAIL ("Bleeding Kansas" & John Brown), THEY DIED WITH THEIR BOOTS ON (George Armstrong Custer). It also added DALLAS to the lit of pictures named after particular cities; e.g., CASABLANCA, DODGE CITY, VIRGINIA CITY.WE WERE WONDERING if Jack Warner & Company ever did one called "BAKERSFIELD?"

Tweekums Former Confederate Colonel Blayde 'Reb' Hollister is a wanted man as he kept on fighting after the war ended; he kept fighting because his home in Georgia had been burnt along with members of his family. The person he is after is Bryant Marlow; and he has gone to Texas where his brother Will is now a respected Dallas businessman. In order to avoid trouble he fakes his own death... only to end up travelling with the new US Marshal Martin Weatherby. Weatherby isn't cut out for the job and the two of them end up switching places; when they get to Dallas Reb claims to be the marshal and introduces Martin as his brother Daniel; the only person to know the truth is Martin's fiancée Tonia. It isn't long before he crosses paths with Bryant but it turns out he is after the wrong brother and when Will learns the new marshal is Hollister things get more dangerous! Of course it isn't all gunfights and chases on horseback; the film also finds time for some romantic jealousy when Reb gets close to Tonia and Martin isn't too happy about it.This might not be 'High Noon' but it is an entertaining western with some good action sequences, a couple of nasty villains and even a few laughs... just seeing Weatherby's original get-up is enough to raise a chuckle. The story of revenge is fairly standard but there is nothing with that. Gary Cooper is very much the star of the film in the role of Reb Hollister but he is ably supported by Leif Erickson as Weatherby and Raymond Massey and Steve Cochran as Will and Bryant Marlow. Ruth Roman does a good enough job as love interest Tonia Robles although her role is nowhere near as big as her second billing would suggest. The action was well directed; especially the jail break scene where Reb flees a burning jail and the final shoot out. Overall this isn't a classic western but it passes the time nicely if you are a fan of the genre.

Robert J. Maxwell Stylized Hollywood Westerns, full of familiar conventions, seem to have eternal life and this is an avatar. Everything in it seems to have been scraped out of the back of a drawer from 1939, a larger budget applied, and this production its issue.Gary Cooper has played this sort of role dozens of times -- the displaced Southerner, fast on the draw and firm with honor, though kinda easy going whenever possible. He plays Blayde Hollister who travels to Texas looking for the gang who destroyed his cotton plantation. He wears a buckskin-fringed shirt and packs two ivory-handled six shooters. He speaks with a countrified accent -- "A feller could get hurt doin' this." (Cf., "Sergeant York.") The gang is led by sneering Raymond Massey, who buys and sells land, usually by underhanded means whenever possible. The gang includes Steve Cochran, who cannot play a Westerner though he's very good at scum bags in general. The requisite woman is Ruth Roman, daughter of the Mexican plantation owner, who looks and speaks about as Mexican as a Boston brown betty.I don't think I'll bother too much with the plot. No doubt someone has gone into it in some detail and it's not worth much more mention. As in any 1939 Western, it's labyrinthine. Everyone except Cooper and his friends are underhanded and there are multiple double crosses and switched identities and hidden secrets.Everything is retro. The plot, the dialog, the wardrobe, even the music. The score is by Warner's stalwart Max Steiner. He's the guy that scored "King Kong." That was 1932. This movie was released in 1950.Cooper's name, by the way -- "Blayde Hollister" -- prompted me to look through the records of the RACA -- the Real American Cowboy Associaton -- to see if that name cropped up in their archives, which date from the beginning of time to February 4th, 1911, when the last Real Cowboy passed away due to an unfortunate encounter with a deranged peccary. There has never been a Real Cowboy with the name Blayde. Hollister, yes, but not Blayde. As a matter of fact, there is no record of any Real Cowboy named Wade, Luke, Cole, or Matt either. The most popular names for genuine cowboys, in descending order of frequency, were Clarence, Mortimer, Noble, Nebukadnezzar, Plautus, Pinchbeck, and Hortense.If this movie had been released in 1939, it would have been routine. In 1950, it is a calamitous monument in the history of human recycling.

MartinHafer The only reason I watched this film was because of Gary Cooper. While maybe not the nicest person in the world in real life, he was a wonderful actor and I'd watch even one of his weaker films just to see him act. And, as usual, he was very good (though a bit old to win the girl at the end of the film).The problem, then, is that despite all of Cooper's talent, the film is just a very ordinary and run-of-the-mill cowboy film. I could EASILY have imagined almost any other actor being able to do Cooper's role and the film would STILL have been mediocre. It's because so many elements of the plot just seem too familiar and too clichéd.About the only thing that stood out was the interesting character played by Leif Erickson---who oddly received such low billing in the film even though he was one of the main characters! The idea of an Eastern "dude" coming West to impress his girl was kind of funny and he did provide a few cute moments and an interesting sidekick, of sorts, for Cooper.Aside from that, the film is imminently skipable. It's a film that only Cooper addicts or B-quality Western addicts should watch--there are frankly too many better films out there worth your time.